$750,000 bail in girl's kidnapping

November 12, 2008

A 44-year-old woman appeared in court today accused of kidnapping a little girl from a Northwest Side pharmacy earlier this week, taking her home, buying her gifts from a thrift store and even changing her clothes at a McDonald's while lying to relatives about where the girl came from.

Prosecutors said the woman, Jeanette Roldan, approached 3 1/2-year-old Sana Patel after the girl became separated from her parents and walked out of a CVS pharmacy in the 3300 block of North Pulaski Road Monday afternoon.

A security video of the outside of the store showed Roldan lead the girl away, Assistant State's Atty. Erin Antonietti said today in court, where Cook County Criminal Court Judge Laura Sullivan ordered her held in lieu of $750,000 bail on a felony charge of aggravated kidnapping of a child under 13.

The charge carries a possible sentence of up to 30 years in prison, but prosecutors and Roldan's attorney said there are questions about her mental health.

Antonietti said the woman never called police or reported that she found the child wandering alone outside the store. Instead, she allegedly took her to her home, and to a thrift store where she purchased clothing and a stuffed animal for the girl.

At one point during the nearly seven hours she was with the girl, Roldan stopped at a McDonald's restaurant and changed the girl's clothing after the child had soiled herself, Antonietti said.

Roldan eventually brought the girl to her ex-husband's home and gave conflicting explanations to relatives as to why she had the girl with her. Roldan, who has two daughters, 18 and 23, told them that she had been babysitting the child for three days.

Roldan also told her ex-husband and his daughter that she found the child in an alley, prosecutors said. People in the home, however, recognized Sana from news reports about the search and called police.

In court, Antonietti asked the judge to deny bail because Roldan never tried to contact police and wanted to keep the child longer.

"We believe that no bail can be reasonably set to keep this child and other children safe from this defendant," Antonietti said.

Sana's father, Irfan Patel, said today his daughter seemed to be fine since the incident and has not talked about it.

He said of Roldan, "I'm upset with her. I don't have any idea why she did it."

Roldan's attorney, David Smith, said his client suffers from diabetes and said there are questions about her mental capabilities. He said there is a history of bipolar disorder and depression in her family and that when Roldan saw the child was unattended, she tried to help.

"Because of her mental state, she may not have taken the proper actions to contact the authorities, but she did take care of the child," Smith said.

About a half-dozen of Roldan's relatives were in court but declined to comment afterward.